Just A Moment
by Mia Shade
Summary: A FredWes ficlet, taking place in ‘Hole in the World’. Fred and Wes decide to spend five more minutes together than they originally did on that fateful morning…or not so fateful, as the case happens to be.


Just A Moment

By Yasashii Tsubasa

Summary: A Fred/Wes ficlet, taking place in 'Whole in the World'. Fred and Wes decide to spend five more minutes together than they originally did on that fateful morning…or not so fateful, as the case happens to be.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

Rating: PG, I'd say. Nothing more than a little harmless fluff.

A/N: This is partially for Lightning Bug, who asked so nicely for some Fred/Wes fluff in her last review of RmH. Considering the regularity of my updating (or not), I figured I'd finally put this idea on paper where it belongs. Painfully short? Yes. Silly as can be? Yep. But if it makes you smile, well, I've done my job. This story takes place directly after Wesley walks in on Spike and Angel's argument.

* * *

"It's just a moment…

This time will pass." –U2

----

He paced the lab, watching the sarcophagus, checking his watch every few seconds. Where in the hell was Fred? Maybe he was just being paranoid, but she should be here.

Knox sighed. He had done a great deal of dirty work to get the God-King this chance, and he wasn't sure how the deity would respond if the promised shell was not there. This infestation was prophesized; if it didn't work out, Illyria could die in the sarcophagus without a shell to reenergize it.

The sarcophagus, also seeming to be worried, trembled just a little.

"Don't worry," Knox told it, lovingly stroking the white marble. "She'll be here."

_She'd better be,_ he thought. _Or I'm toast._

_-----_

Wesley opened the door to his office, his brow furrowed in serious thought.

"But…the astronauts must have some sort of weapon," he muttered to himself. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, don't they have space guns or something?"

Alarmed at the presence of someone else in his office, Wes looked up to see who had spoken; it was Fred, who was sitting in his chair, her feet up on his desk. Wesley closed the door behind him.

"Fred? I thought you went to the lab. Knox said he needed you," Wesley said. Fred grinned.

"Surprise!" she replied cheerfully. "I don't really want to get working yet, so I'm taking a detour to the lab. Plus I thought you could use some company."

Wes' eyebrows rose a few inches. "Considering I just saw you about an hour ago?"

Fred shrugged, swinging her feet off the desk and going to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Well, you can't be trusted. You need constant surveillance to make sure you don't do something silly."

Wesley had to grin back. "Do you really need an excuse to come see me?"

Fred giggled, giving him a quick kiss. She unwound her arms and began to move away, but Wes caught her wrist, pulling Fred back to him.

"I don't think so, my love. You've caught my curiosity now, and I'm quite interested in exactly what silly things I do." Wes kissed Fred slowly, his fingertips just barely tickling her slim waist. Fred smiled under his kiss, her laugh fluttering softly through the air.

"There are so many," she replied, standing on her tiptoes to see him eye to eye. "Where do I begin?"

"I've heard something about fools in love occasionally," Wes replied. "But I could have sworn that that particular gem of cafeteria gossip was about that poor half-demon girl in Accounts."

Fred shook her head, planting another kiss on Wesley's nose. "Nope," she grinned. "Definitely about you." Her beeper began to chime, and she pulled it from its holder with a groan. Wes leaned over to see the message: _Fred, need U in lab NOW, Knx._

"Knox must really need help," she sighed. "I probably should go."

Wesley shook his head, taking the beeper from Fred and putting it on his desk. "Don't go," he whispered. "Stay with me. I need surveillance, remember." Leaning down, Wes kissed her softly, his tongue gently teasing her lips, enticing her. Fred grinned as Wesley's lips moved to her neck, trailing tiny kisses along her collarbone.

"Well," she replied, "I don't think five more minutes would hurt, right?"

-----

Knox was becoming more and more worried. Fred still hadn't shown up, her cell was turned off and she hadn't responded to her beeper. She was supposed to be in by now. She was supposed to succumb to the glory of Illyria by now. She should be halfway to _being_ Illyria by now.

The sarcophagus was shaking rapidly, alarming him, and there was nothing that Knox could do. He had already tried to touch the crystal and take Illyria into his own body, but it was impossible; he was the Qwa'Ha Xahn, and he could not possibly be the shell that held the Great Illyria. Things were going straight to hell, and Knox could only watch helplessly. He glanced at his watch, counting down the seconds until the supposed time of the prophecy, feeling like a condemned man.

_Five…_

_Four…_

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One._

-----

"So," Wes murmured, giving Fred a soft kiss. "Now that you've decided to stay, I must ask: being in love with you doesn't count as one of those silly things, does it?"

Fred was about to reply when a muffled _boom_ rocked the building gently. Something popped in her mind, clouding her eyes over with dark little spots. She stumbled, dizzy, as a scream rang faintly through her ears. _No! The shell!_

Fred gasped, tripping on her heels, but Wesley caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Fred? Fred, what's wrong? What happened?"

Fred shook her head to clear it, and then looked up to meet Wesley's eyes with a quizzical look of her own.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Just a headache, I guess. I could have sworn I heard someone screaming, but it doesn't matter. I'm okay."

They were leaning in to kiss again when the door suddenly burst open, revealing a distraught-looking Gunn and a stoic-looking Angel. Fred and Wes flew apart in time that their friends didn't see them; Fred ran to Gunn, concerned.

"Charles? What happened?"

Angel sighed. "Fred…there was an explosion in the lab. Something that was delivered last night just…kaboom. Like a time bomb. Everything's either smashed or nearly smashed, including Knox."

Fred gasped. "Oh my god! Is he all right?"

Gunn shook his head. "We're not sure of anything right now, but we do know that there was some sort of Egyptian coffin sitting in the lab a few minutes before; we caught it on surveillance tape," his brow furrowed. "Were you going crazy on EBay again?" Fred shook her head.

"No, I swear I'm clean. I didn't send for it."

Angel nodded. "Good, because we don't know what was in it, or what could now be in the lab. So now our clean-up crew has to clear out the entire room, decontaminate it, and take out the chemicals. The people in Interiors have to replace the entire lab, get rid of all the tainted stuff, and redo the floor. It could take two weeks, maybe three," he folded his arms across his chest. "Is that okay with you? I mean, it is your lab."

Fred nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. I mean, it's great. You said that you didn't know what was in the sarcophagus?"

"Yes. The sarcophagus exploded, but we can't seem to find any sort of mummy body, so we have to assume that there was something dangerous and invisible in there. Nobody is to go near the lab until we find it, okay?"

With nods all around, Angel and Gunn left the office. Wesley wrapped Fred very tightly in his arms.

"That was close," he whispered. "You could have been down in the lab by now!"

Fred sighed. "Wesley, I'm fine. I was here with you, and I'm not going to go down to the lab for a long while. There's nothing to worry about, okay?" Wes nodded in response, and Fred smiled. "Good. However, I do have to wonder what was in that sarcophagus. It would have been fun to investigate."

Wesley grinned back. "One of these days, your curiosity is going to kill you."

"What, so I'm a cat now?" Fred playfully swiped at Wesley's head. "See? You do say silly things."

Wes laughed and swung Fred around in his arms.

"Just one of my charms, love; just one of my charms."


End file.
